Guest Post: Nativity Memory Game

 

Thank you to Miss Cheryl for another great Guest Post…

Transition times happen often throughout the day with a group of children! Waiting for some of our friends to wash their hands, waiting for some of our friends to finish their snack, etc. Waiting is difficult for preschool age children. A minute seems like an hour! Try standing in the middle of your room for 2 minutes…go ahead, really! Try it! Set a timer! I’ve tried this…..wow! I cannot imagine how long this feels to young children!
We have many “transition” activities ready to go for these planned and unplanned waiting times! One of our children’s favorite is the What’s Missing game. It is a game of memory. Sometimes the items we use are based on our theme (transportation items, for example) or on a concept (different colors and shapes).

Here is how “What’s Missing” looks like with our class. The teacher places all the items out for the children to see. She instructs the children to “Cover your eyes! No peaking!” and removes one or two items. She then tells the children to open their eyes and guess “what’s missing”. The children who guess go to wash their hands for snack and the teacher continues with the game until all the children have had a turn and all have washed their hands.

Momma C has suggested a Nativity Memory Game and we LOVE it! It is not just a memory game, it is also a new way to retell or recount the birth of Christ!

Our 4 year olds are practicing acting out the Christmas Story for their family Christmas Party next week. The teacher will narrate the story and the children follow the direction of the story, they have no speaking parts. Our goal is not learning to act, but learning about God’s gift of Christ to us. Our children are using their sense of hearing when we read the story to them and their sense of touch when they use the flannel board pieces of the story and when they physically “act” out the story. And now, with the Nativity Memory Game from ABC JESUS LOVES ME curriculum, they are using their sense of sight as they learn the story.

We used our Crèche and Nativity scene pieces for our “What’s Missing” game and followed the same routine as I described above. Only this time, when a child guessed which character was missing, we restated it “That’s right! The shepherd was missing! What happened to the shepherd when Christ was born?” or “That’s right! The angel is missing! What did the angel say to the shepherd in the field?”

If your children have not heard the Christmas story enough to recall each character’s “role” in the story, follow Momma C’s plan! When the children guess what is missing, rather than ask them questions, tell them what happened! “That’s right! The angel was missing! The angel appeared to the shepherds and told them ‘Don’t be afraid! For I bring good news of great joy, for ALL people! Today a Savior was born for you with is Christ the Lord!”

What a wonderful activity! Thanks Momma C!

Miss Cheryl is a preschool teacher in Massachusetts. She is going to be blessing us with blogs about using the ABCJLM Preschool Curriculum in her preschool classroom.